Palma High Molest Claims Face Deadline

By Virginia Hennessey
Monterey Herald
March 4, 2012

http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_20097295/palma-school-molest-claims-face-deadline?source=pkg

The claim forms are in the mail and the clock is ticking for Palma High School alumni who allege they were molested by someone affiliated with the school.

Sexual abuse victims have until Aug. 1 to file a claim as a "creditor" in the bankruptcy filed last year by the Irish Christian Brothers and the Christian Brothers Institute in New York in reaction to mounting molestation claims.

Palma High School has been identified as one of the schools where alleged perpetrators were employed and was required by the federal bankruptcy court to provide its alumni list for notification.

Jim Stang, the Los Angeles attorney appointed to represent the "unsecured creditors committee," said some alumni will be confused by the packet of information.

"A lot of people won't understand why they got it and will think they were named as abuse survivors, and that's not true," he said. However, he added, "If they were abused and do not file a claim by Aug. 1, it will be extremely difficult to file" in the future.

Attorneys representing the Irish Christian Brothers and the Christian Brothers Institute have not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Copies of the claim form are attached to the Feb. 10 court order approving the filing deadline and can be found at www.omnimgt.com/TheChristianBrothers. The website also includes a basic summary of the bankruptcy, pending court hearings and lists of Christian

Brothers named in the proceedings and the schools in which they worked.

Cantwell High School in Montebello and St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School, a co-ed institution in Vallejo, are the other two California schools named as part of the action.

Alumni with allegations of physical, non-sexual abuse can also file claims, though their deadline is May 11. They must use a different claim form, attached to the court order as Exhibit A.

Creditors in bankruptcy cases are normally given 60 days to file claims. A longer deadline is allowed in cases of sexual abuse, Stang said, because of the emotional difficulty victims have in telling their stories.

"It's like peeling an onion," he said. "It's not just a memory issue, it's an issue of them being able to tell what happened."

Nevertheless, Stang said he hopes to close the case quickly, potentially within a year, "because, frankly, our people are dying." Two members of the claimants committee are 75 years old.

The lawyer said abuse victims can file a claim using the form they receive in the mail or by printing it from the website. It is not necessary to hire an attorney to submit a claim, but it may be advisable, said Stang, who cannot represent individual clients in the case.

While the claim form asks for narrative answers and documents are not required to be attached, he said, the Christian Brothers' attorneys and insurance companies will be looking at legal avenues to deny the claims, such as statutes of limitations.

To answer such challenges without an attorney "is probably not a very smart idea," said Stang, who has represented creditor committees in eight other sex abuse-related bankruptcies declared by Catholic dioceses and religious orders.

Potential claimants can post inquiries on the website. The court order also directs questions to Stang's firm through the creditors committee at 888-667-4266.

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